Posted on 05/12/2008 8:47:42 AM PDT by charles m
A rescuer searches for victims after an earthquake in Chongqing municipality May 12, 2008.
Water and mud flow on a street after an earthquake broke an underground pipe in Chengdu, Sichuan province
CHONGQING, China - Chinese state media says more than 8,500 have died in Sichuan province alone from a massive earthquake.
The official Xinhua News Agency said that another 10,000 people were believed hurt in one of the province's counties after the 7.8-magnitude quake on Monday.
Nearly 900 students were trapped after their school collapsed about 60 miles from the quake's epicenter. Xinhua reported students also were buried under five other toppled schools.
The earthquake struck in the middle of the afternoon when classrooms and office towers were full.
The temblor was felt as far away as Pakistan, Vietnam and Thailand.
Terrible. Prayers for all those affected.
Another thread
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2014670/posts
Compare and contrast ... were this a big city in the U.S., there would probably be looters running rampant in the streets. Just saying....
Sure. What happens to looters in China?
They become organ donors.......
why is it that schools seem to collapse more notably and terribly than other public buildings- not just in China but elsewhere in the 3rd world
Corrupt contractors cutting corners during construction, using inferior materials? My guess. I hope it never happens here.
prayer bump
*****************
Exactly.
Um yeah...
I'm sure the average Chinese person knows that they would have a guaranteed bullet in the head if they tried looting in the wake of a disaster (much less in any event) and Lord help them if they were spared a bullet and ended up in a Chinese prison.
Knowing that...I guess I'm not sure what you're "sayin"?
A 7.8 magnitude quake centered 60 miles from a city of 10.5 million? Unfortunately I think 8500 dead is not even scratching the surface of the eventual total.
Many schools collapsed badly in the 1933 Long Beach earthquake (70 destroyed) Fortunately, it was at 6PM and only a few students were killed. It led to the Field Act which mandated strict school construction standards in California.
Yup...
1976
Jul. 28, Tangshan China: Twenty sq mi of the city was devastated by an earthquake that measured 7.5 in magnitude. The New China News Agency released figures following the inaugural Congress of the Chinese Seismological Society in Nov. 1979 which claimed 242,000 dead and 164,000 injured. The USGS estimates the real death toll at 655,000. This is the 20th century’s worst earthquake.
By all accounts, Chengdu was left almost entirely unscathed. The areas that were hit hardest were directly in the fault line. Beichuan and Wenchuan counties.
It was just an observation -- the pics kinda got me to thinking about how there are parts of the US that are little better than 3rd-world sh*tholes.
, silverleaf wrote:
why is it that schools seem to collapse more notably and terribly than other public buildings- not just in China but elsewhere in the 3rd world
Corrupt contractors cutting corners during construction, using inferior materials? My guess. I hope it never happens here.”
Ha, we just had a recent article about Chinese contractors building dorms in SC schools. The Manchu marches on.
“A 7.8 magnitude quake centered 60 miles from a city of 10.5 million? Unfortunately I think 8500 dead is not even scratching the surface of the eventual total.”
One would certainly think so, especially in a non-Western country with the construction standards that are there.
This is terrible, but an even worse catastrophe is expected if the Three Rivers dam in China ever gives way (and it might).
Prayers for the afflicted in Myanmar and China, and a pox on the corrupt and nasty governments of both.
That’s nothing. The Chinese earthquake in 1555 killed over 500,000 people. That’s the most deadliest natural disaster ever.
They get shot, and then their families are charged for the price of the bullet.
the pics kinda got me to thinking about how there are parts of the US that are little better than 3rd-world sh*tholes
In addition to that, isn't it nice to see nurses who take some pride in their appearance?
In fact, those nurses are so attractive that it makes me wonder whether the pictures were staged - they look like they just walked off the set of a 1950's movie or television show in America.
Anyway, the more I see of China, the more I wonder if our future doesn't lie more with them than with any other peoples.
The nurses in China really dress like that. Pride in presentation for EVERYONE. Even the street-sweepers dress cleanly.
Our future does have a strong inter-dependency with China; it’s best if we recognize that now and manage the relationship with our own interests firmly in place. China will be the predominant economic and political force in Asia; ignoring that fact will make the future harder for both countries.
China is rational, the Chinese are - if anything - pragmatic. Russia is completely irrational and the biggest threat we’re going to face over the next few decades. China - with a huge population, economy, and massive border with Russia - will be a natural ally to stabilize and control Russia as it starts to go through wild death throes back into either a complete dictatorship or fracture into hundreds of independent states.
In 1989 we had a pretty good one here in San Francisco. It knocked out power to the whole city and there was a certain amount of death and destruction and confusion.
There was no looting.
True. And then you have places like New Orleans after Katrina; or New York during a blackout; or Los Angeles following damned near anything....
My concern is that in fifty years China will be, as it is now, a somewhat functional dictatorship simultaneously capable of producing great wealth and keeping its people in subjugation, that China will militarily be much more powerful than it is now, and that the Chinese people and leaders will hate us with an intensity that we cannot even imagine.
I think the predominant reasons for those differences are fairly obvious. Do you agree?
The Chinese have their rational, pragmatic side. They also have their racist, nationalistic, chauvanistic, xenophobic, and resentful sides as well. They are perfectly capable of being the worst enemy we have ever known. Not yet, but in fifty years maybe.
As well as Arkansas. Just a few weeks ago with the dust barley settling from the tornado's they had a problem with looters. I could not believe my ears.
Oh, yes, I quite agree. From the perspective of a San Franciscan, looting would be just too haphazard a way to get just the right accessories to perfect one's interior design.... ;-)
five finger discount Ikea makes for bad Feng Shui.
Fortunately there are still many places here in the US where it's a bad idea to loot.
Heartbreaking....
Great photoshop! Too funny!
the total number estimited by me is at least 60 thousand.
i am a chinese.let me tell you all why this is the truth:
the death toll in BEICHUAN county(70 miles from the epicentre WENCHUAN county) is reaching 8500 now.and it is just one of the nine counties around the epicentre WENCHUAN county which i estimated at least 20 thousand. so ...
pity!
So what’s your point? Because nobody’s perfect therefore we’re all the same?
I think that was exactly what he was saying. “I love Big Brother!”
Yes, I am aware that that is one possible future:
Importing Sino-Fascism?PugetSoundSoldier: Our future does have a strong inter-dependency with China; it’s best if we recognize that now and manage the relationship with our own interests firmly in place.
http://www.vdare.com/asp/printPage.asp?url=http://www.vdare.com/derbyshire/sino-fascism.htm
But there is another possible future which we can be hoping for:
Jesus in Beijing: How Christianity Is Changing the Global Balance of Power
by David Aikman
October 25, 2003
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0895261286/Christianity finds a fulcrum in Asia
By Spengler
Aug 7, 2007
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/IH07Ad03.html
7.8 Earthquake Shakes Southern China; Death Toll Nears 10,000
http://en.epochtimes.com/news/8-5-12/70578.html
A general view shows a collapsed hospital after an earthquake in Dujiangyan, Sichuan province May 12, 2008. REUTERS/Stringer
CORRECTING LOCATION PICTURE WAS TAKEN An injured student cries while receiving medical checks near the debris of a collapsed building at a primary school at Liangping County after an earthquake in Chongqing municipality, May 12, 2008. REUTERS/Stringer
I assume the International Red Cross would be a start — so long as they don't charge the recipients of aid. Again, hope all you know and love are safe.
That was a hell of a quake.
Considering the number of people in the area, I would say 60k is a low number. 100k is more like it. It’s a terrible tragedy
This was a BIG earthquake.
I’m nervous here in LA.
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